SSTs allow customers to perform transactions in an unassisted manner and/or in an unattended environment.
An SST typically allows a customer to initiate a transaction using an identity token, such as a magnetic stripe and/or integrated circuit card. For SSTs such as automated teller machines (ATMs), customers are issued with identity cards that are used with each transaction. However, it is becoming more common for new types of SSTs to be provided, such as movie rental kiosks, hotel check-in kiosks, airline check-in kiosks, that do not require a dedicated customer identity card. For these types of SSTs, a customer may initiate a transaction using a different token. These tokens may include customer-identifying information, such as a passport, a driver license, or the like. Alternatively, these tokens may not include any customer-identifying information, such as a voucher, a ticket, or the like.
Currently, different software is required to support different mechanisms for initiating a transaction at an SST. The software has to ensure that the token presented has sufficient information to allow the transaction to be completed. This makes it time consuming and expensive to update an SST to accept a new type of token for initiating a transaction.
It is also problematic to update software in a network of SSTs, where different mechanisms for initiating transactions are used in different SSTs on the network.
It is among the objects of an embodiment of the present invention to obviate or mitigate this problem or other problems associated with prior art SSTs.